Gwyn Stark
Gwyn Stark is a professor character played by Richard Hronik. Stats Basics Voice Backstory Gwyn Stark was born into a fairly normal family. They might have been a bit poor, but they managed to scrape by, though work ensured her parents weren’t around much. Though she was alone often, young Gwyn managed to keep herself entertained, as she had an innate curiosity and fascination with the world around her. Gwyn would easily and readily see natural numbers and patterns in the world around her, almost subconsciously counting things and noticing correlations, even if she couldn’t put it all into scientific or mathematical terms. This led her to develop an interest in mathematics from a young age, that would continue on as a passion for much of her life, as well as act as a method of escapism during her lowest moments. As Gwyn grew older, a rift started steadily growing between her parents, largely due to stress from long hours at their respective careers and money seemingly disappearing from their bank accounts. Tensions built slowly and steadily, until things came to a head when Gwyn graduated high school. Not long after the festivities from the ceremony and the party Gwyn’s parents threw for her for getting such good grades (not quite valedictorian levels of good, but still better than average and especially so in math), she overheard her parents arguing about something in the back room of their rather small house. Creeping as quietly as she could, she snuck closer to the room until she was just outside the door where she was able to hear what her parents were saying. As it turned out, her father had been sneaking out at night to feed a nasty drug addiction that he’d been able to disguise as simple fatigue due to his odd work hours. If nothing else it explained why they had so little money, but it had led to a problem: they didn’t know if they could afford to send Gwyn to college. Hearing this shattered Gwyn’s spirit. She’d been wanting to go to Mistral’s premier university for as long as she could remember. She’d even been accepted early! But it seemed her dreams would become stillborn due to her father’s selfishness and carelessness. Gwyn lost hope. She resigned herself to spending hours, sometimes even days at a time just lying in bed. She only ever got up to use the bathroom, and the only time she saw another human being was when her mother came up to bring her food. As far as she was concerned, her father was dead. She didn’t even hear him downstairs, and ignored him when he tried to apologize. She would never see her father again. One day, her mother came up at an unusual time, looking very tired. In a tone heavy with exhaustion, she told Gwyn that her father had gotten together enough money for her to go to college, but he hadn’t explained how, and he wouldn’t be coming back for a while. Gwyn didn’t particularly care about the latter bit, but the former bit on the other hand! What news that was! Gwyn recovered almost instantly, though not entirely. She didn’t have the same spark that she did before. Everything seemed somehow…bleaker than it had before, and she didn’t know why. She tried to have a positive outlook for the future, but it was surprisingly difficult to maintain one. Finally, the time came for her to move out of her meager home and go to the school of her dreams. She expected some sort of wonderland of knowledge…but instead was met with flawed academia. With Mistral being a land plagued by gangs and corrupt government, the school had problems that made it hard for anyone, especially someone who wasn’t from old money (like Gwyn) to get anywhere in the system. It was a hard-fought battle, but after six long years, Gwyn came out with her degree in mathematics. They weren’t all good, however. In that time, she’d developed some rather destructive habits, such as gambling (despite her knowledge of probabilities) and drinking. She somehow managed to keep enough money to feed both of these addictions, though exactly how may never be known. She eventually found herself a job as a mathematics professor at a lesser-known institution, and settled into a routine there, though she loathed it. She felt like she was going nowhere, and would never go anywhere, and after her college years, she loathed common academia and just felt detached from it. She found that her experiences gave her a new outlook on life, however, and with it came a knack for humor that she would use to mask her true feelings, although it was only temporary and those close to her could tell how she was really feeling. Luckily (or perhaps unluckily) she didn’t have many friends. About a year into her time at the university, rumors started to spread about Gwyn getting into acts of sexual misconduct with a few students, though these were neither confirmed nor denied. Some other university staff also noted a slight behavior change in her at the time, though no concrete facts ever turned up. After a few years of misery, she got wind of some openings for professors at Shade Academy in Vacuo. Eager to leave her current place of employ, she packed her bags and headed to the little bit of blue and green in the heart of the harsh Sanus desert, hoping for a fresh start. Personality Gwyn is a professor at Shade, but doesn't much care for the position. She is apathetic towards and detached from academia, and often feels overwhelmed and underqualified, perhaps due to low self-confidence. She's uncertain of what she really wants to do with her life and is really just coasting through her days; often miserable or borderline depressed. Despite this, she’s a very humorous person and uses jokes and laughter as a means to temporarily escape or mask her general misery. Resume Occupation Professor of Calculus and Probability at Shade Academy, formerly Professor of Calculus at an academic college Education Six years of academic college education Combat Weapon Quotient – a ten-foot-long bullwhip made of primarily black leather with a metal strand at its core. A chamber in the handle houses Dust, which travels up the core strand to imbue elements into the whip strikes. These elemental strikes can also be converted to long-range attacks, though this is saved for desperate situations. Semblance Disorient – Gwyn fires a spherical projectile of psionic energy that temporarily throws off the target’s sense of balance and direction, thereby neutralizing them for the moment. The projectile has a range of approximately fifty feet and travels in a straight line before fizzling out, and is the same color as her aura. Future Outlook Character Development A position at a less-than-normal school like Shade might do Gwyn some good, as it is a departure from normal academia. Therefore, a general positive shift in her temperament can be expected. Goals Find out what she wants to do with her life, achieve it, and have a little fun along the way. Other Notes She does have an alcohol problem and carries a hip flask usually containing some sort of liquor, and can be found in a casino most nights. Normal Theme: Gallery Category:Characters __FORCETOC__